Engine assembly



'May 17,` 1938.

J. o. HElNzE yENGINE ASSEMBLY FiledJam 25. 1936 INVENTR May 17, 1938.JiQHE'lNzE Y 2,117,662

ENGINE i ASSEMBLY Filed Jan. 23. 1956 SSheets-Sheet 3 ATTORNEYS PatentedMay 17', 1938 UNITED STATES ENGINE ASSEIWBLY John 0. Heinze, Detroit,Mich., assigner to Heinze Development Company, Detroit, Mich., acorporation of Michigan Application January 23, 1936, Serial No. 60,365

4 Claims.

This invention relates to an internal combustion engine of the eccentricpiston type, and its object is to simplify, perfect and reduce the costof manufacture ofmotors and compressors of this type, and to combinesuch a compressor and motor in a single unit to provide a perfectedinternal combustion engine.

A further object is to provide a construction wherein an abutment memberfor separating the space at one side of the pistonfrom that at theopposite side, also serves as a valve moved by eccentric motion of thepiston to open and close a port in the cylinder wall during one-half ofeach stroke of the piston.

It is also an object to prevent leakage past the abutment within itsslot in the piston, by providing means for exerting a constant force tohold said piston with the face of a side Wall of its slot in rm contactwith the side face of the abutment therein and which face is opposed topressure within the cylinder, and toprevent leakage past the ends of thepiston, by providing means for yieldingly expanding the piston in thedirection of its length to hold its end walls in face contact 5 with theend walls of its cylinder.

It is also an object to provide certain other new and useful features inthe construction and arrangement of parts, all as hereinafter more fullydescribed, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, wherein-Figure l is an axial longitudinal section through an internal combustionengine illustrative of an embodiment of thepresent invention;

Fig. 2 is a transverse section substantially upon the line 2--2 of Fig.1;

Fig. 3 is a sectional detail substantially upon the line 3--3 of Fig. 2;

Fig. 4 is a similar section upon the line 4-4 of Fig. 2; ,0 Figs. 5 and6 are transverse sections through compressor and motor respectively, andillustrative of the operation and relative positions of the pistons andvalvular abutments therein; and

Fig. '7 is a sectional detail substantially upon the line 1 1 of Fig. 2.

The structure as shown in the accompanying drawings, is an internalcombustion engine comprising amotor and a compressor for compressing andsupplying combustible charges to the motor, and the structure as shown,comprises an annular motor cylinder indicated as a whole by the numeralI and ah annular compressor cylinder indi` catedas a whole by thenumeral 2 with a circular piston 3 in each cylinder anchored therein foreccentric movement, by an abutment member or (Cl. 12S-8) block 4dividing the crescent shaped, space between the periphery of each pistonand cylinder wall, each piston being mounted upon an eccentric 5 formedintegral with a shaft 6 extending axially through the two cylinders withan anti-friction bearing 'I interposed between the periphery of eacheccentric and piston and the end portions vof said shaft being munted inball bearings B in the end walls of the cylinders, which walls 9 `form apart of the casing of the structure and the end walls of the twocylinders I and 2. A corresponding single intermediate wall I0 forms theinner end walls of the cylinders and interposed between the peripheralportions of these walls 9 and I0, are annular members II which form theperipheral walls of 'said cylinders,` allv of said walls being formedhollow to provide water cooling spaces, all in communication with awater inlet manifold I2 secured to and extending across the lower sideof said cylinders. manifold I3 extends across the upper side of saidcylinders in open communication with said hollow walls, and formedintegral with this manifold I3, interiorly thereof, is a combustionchamber I4 with the water space of said manifold partly surrounding saidchamber which chamber is in cornmunication through a passage I5, withthe interior of cylinder I and through a passage I6 with the interior ofthe cylinder 2. The two wall members and the wall member IIl are securedtogether witha the annular walls or members I I interposed, by means ofbolts I1 passing through the peripheral portions of these walls andthrough clamping rings I8 secured by said bolts against the outer facesof said walls 9. thus formed by the several separate sections 9, I0 andII which are drawn into firm contact with each other, by said bolts, andin the manufacture of the engine, the end faces of the walls 9 and Iiimay be ground perfectly flat before assembly, as may also the end facesof the pistons so that said pistons will contact over their entire endareas with the faces of the cylinder end walls, leakage past the ends ofthe pistons being thus avoided by maintaining firm contact of thesefaces of the piston ends with these ground faces of the cylinder walls,by dividing each piston intermediate its end faces, into two parts orhalves and interposing coiled springs Il@ between said halves withinhollow bosses 2G on each half within the hollow or internal cavity withwhich each half of the piston is formed with these cavities open towardeach other.

The springs I9 thus exert a force to spread the two halves of eachpiston apart and thus yieldingly A water outlet u The cylinders I and 2are ends, said pivot bolt thus also serving to assist` hold their endfaces in close contact with the faces of the end walls of theircylinders, and to prevent leakage from each cylinder through theperipheral slot or space between the two halvesof each piston, saidhalves may be formed with opposed grooves in the opposed faces of theperipheral walls of these halves to receive a packing ring 2I, and in alike manner, each piston is formed with opposed grooves in opposed facesof the inner walls ofthe piston halves to receive a packing ring 22, andseated upon these walls and extending across the split between saidhalves, is a hardened ring 23 upon which the rollers of -the bearings Irun. Leakage from the combustion space of the motor and the compressionspace of the compressor is thus prevented from passing through eachpiston between the opposed faces of its halves and at the same timeleakage between the ends of each piston and the end walls of thecylinders is eifectually prevented by the rm contact maintained by thesprings I9, between the ground end faces of the pistons and faces of theend walls of the cylinders.

To anchor each piston within its cylinder for eccentric movementtherein, the abutment member or block 4 for each piston which isdisposed within a radial slot 23 in said piston, is pivoted for swingingmovement upon a pivot bolt or shaft 24 extending through openings in thewall members 9 and I0 and through a longitudinal opening in each block 4located intermediate the inner and outer sides of each block, said pivotbolt being located well within the circle of the periphery of eachpiston, Said pivot bolt 24 being rigidly held against rotation andsecured to said walls by means of a nut or nuts on its projecting end orin securing Said walls together. Each block 4 is of the same length asthe thickness of the piston so 'that the end surfaces of the block willabut.

and slide upon the inner surfaces of the end walls of the cylinder, andthe pivot bolt or shaft 24 of each block is so located that the outerend or side of the block, to which is applied a shoe 25, will extend farenough to seat said shoe within a notch or groove 26 formed in the innersurface of the peripheral wall of the cylinder, the surface of thisgroove 26 being curved concentrically with the axis of the pivot bolt 24so that as the block swings-upon said pivot, the shoe will ride incontact with the curved surface of the groove 26 and maintain contacttherewith to prevent leakage between said shoe and curved surface, saidshoe being urged into seating contact therewith by means of springs 21,each within a bore in a rib 28 on the shoe which rib fits closely withina longitudinal groove in the outer side of the block. .4

The port or passage I5 which affords cornmunication between the interiorof the `cylinder I and the combustion chamber I4, opens through thecurved surface of the groove 26, and in a like manner the passage I6affording communication between the cylinder of the compressor 2 andsaid chamber I4 also opens through said curved surface of said groove.Therefore as each block 4 is swung upon its pivot by the eccentricmovement of its piston, communication between the interior of eachcylinder and the combustion chamber will be opened and closed duringeachhalf'stroke of each piston, the port I5 opening through said curvedsurface at one side of the vertical plane of the pivotal axis of saidblock and the other port I6 opening through said surface at the oppositeside of said plane, both ports being closed when the pistons are at theupper ends of their strokes as shown in Fig. 2.

As shown in Fig. 2 the compressor cylinder is formed with an inletpassage 29 at a distance from the port IS'in the direction of rotationof the piston, and this passage 29 is in open communication with a shortintake manifold 30 to which a carburetor or other device (not shown) isattached for supplying av combustible mixture of fuel and air to thecompressor cylinder, this intake passage being open at lall times as itis located laterally from the point of contact of the piston with thecylinder wall when the piston is at the upper end of its stroke, andtherefore mixture will be drawn in through this passage until the pistonreaches the lower end of its stroke where it will be trapped within themately when the passage I5 leading from this chamber to the motorcylinder is opened to discharge the gases under high compression withinthe combustion chamber, into the motor cylinder, and when the motorpiston has reached the position shown in Fig. 6 the full force of theexplosion of gases will be applied to the piston of that cylinder,swinging the piston upon its pivot shaft 24, and thereafter the passageI5, is closed by the valvular abutment of said piston, allowing vthehighly compressed charge to act upon the piston expansively until nearthe end of its stroke whenthe port 33 will be opened and permit theexhaust gases to pass freely' out, this port remaining open duringsubstantially the remainder of the stroke so that all of the burnedgases expanded to nearly atmospheric pressure will bae expelled throughthe short exhaust manifold 4.

In order to prevent leakage between the abutment blocks 4 and the sidewall of each piston slot 23 within which the blocks are located, alongitudinal groove A36 is provided in one wall of each piston slot 23to receive a bar 31 formed with recesses to receive coiled springs 35which act between saidbar and bottom of said groove 36 to press said baragainst the side of the block 4 and move the piston to bring the side ofits slot 23 opposite that at which said springs are located, into rmeven contact with that side of the abutment block, s'aid springs for somoving the compressor piston', being located at the forward side of saidabutment block in the direction of rotation of the piston as indicatedin Fig. 2, to make a tight joint between the block and wall of. theApiston slot at the compression side of the piston, and said springs35'.

and open the cylinder port in proper timed rela- 7 5 for operating suchvalves in lproper timed relation to piston movements. Further thearrangement provides for a sliding 4valve member 4which is continuouslyheld to its seat, thus avoiding leakage due to improper seating causedby wear, and this valve member or shoe 25 carried by the abutment isheld yieldingly against its seat so that wear will cause better seatingrather than otherwise. In this arrangement of valvular abutment, theabutment itself, oscillates upon its anchoring pivot with the movementsof the piston and its pivot also provides an anchor for the.

piston upon which the piston osclllates as it slides upon said abutment.A very strong and easily machined and assembled abutment structure is,

thus secured and leakage past the abutment through the abutment slot inthe piston is obviated by the simple expedient of providing springscarried by the piston for moving the piston relative to the abutment andholding the side wall of the piston slot in firm contact with theadjacent side of said abutment.

Further, leakage past the ends of the piston is prevented by grindingsaid end surfaces to contact throughout their area, the similarly groundsurfaces of the cylinder end walls, and such'contact is insured bymaking the piston expansible in the direction of its length.

Obviously advantages of the particular construction and arrangementshown, may be secured by the employment of modified constructionswithout departing from the spirit of the present invention, and suchmodifications are contemplated as falling within the scope of theappended claims.

Having thus fully described my invention what I claim is:

l. 'I'he combination with a power cylinder and a compression cylindereach having a port opening through the peripheral wall thereof, and apiston eccentricaliy supported in each of said cylinders ,and eachpiston having a radial slot therein opening through theV peripherythereof;

. of an abutment member in said slot of each piston with a portion ofeach abutment projecting from the open side of said slot to engage theperipheral wall of its cylinder and open and close' said ports, acombustion chamber with' passages in open communication with saidchamber at one end and communicating at their opposite ends through saidports with said cylinders, and means mounted in the end walls of thecylinders and passing through said slots in said pistons for pivotallysupporting said abutment members inwardly from said peripheral wall ofeach piston to swing upon said pivot means with the eccentric movementof said pistons and move the projectingportion of one of said abutmentmembers in contact with said peripheral wall of its cylinder to uncoversaid port at one side of said abutment and afford free passage throughone of said passages for products of combustion from said chamber intosaid power cylinder upon movement in one direction of said abutment withsaid power piston in said cylinder and to uncover said port at the otherside of said abutment in the compressor cylinder and afford free passageof compressed air from said compressor cylinder through the otherpassage into said combustion chamber in timed relation to the opening ofthe passage from said chamber into said power cylinder. Y n 2. Thecombination as characterized in claim 1 and further characterized by ashoe on said projecting portion of each abutment to yieldngly engagesaid walls of said cylinders.

3. The combination as characterized in claim 1 and further characterizedby each cylinder being formed lwith a groove in its peripheral wallformed concentric in cross section with the pivotal support for theabutment within said radial slot of said piston in said cylinder, eachof said abutments being pivotally supported within the slot of itspiston upon a pivot bolt supported by said cylinder end walls andpositioned within said slot inwardly of the periphery of said piston, ashoe mounted upon the projecting portion of each abutment member, andyieldable means to press each of said shoes into contact with the curvedsurfaces of 'said grooves in said cylinder walls.

4. In an engine assembly comprising a motor cylinder and a compressorcylinder, said cylinders being formed by hollow circular end walls, anintermediate hollow'circular wall and annular members between said endand intermediate walls and forming the peripheral walls of saidcylinders, said walls and members being secured together by throughbolts adjacent the peripheries of said walls; a water manifold securedto said cylinders in communication with said hollow walls and formedwith an interior combustion chamber having `passages affordingcommunication between said chamber and said cylinders; a shaft mountedaxially of said cylinders; an eccentric in each cylinder upon said shaftwith said eccentrics extending laterally in the same direction from saidshaft; a piston of circular form mounted upon each eccentric in eachcylinder and each piston formed with a radial slot opening through itsperiphery; an abutment member in said slot of each piston with its outerend in contact with the peripheral wall of each of said cylinders, apivot bolt mounted in the end walls of said cylinders and extendingthrough said abutment member within said slots to pivotally support saidabutment members, said cylinder walls being formed with ports throughwhich said passages open opposite said outer ends of said abutments tobe opened and closed, one in timed relation to the other, by swingingmovements of said abutments upon their pivotal supports with themovements of said pistons; and an intake manifold in open communicationwith said compressor cylinder at the intake side thereof at one side ofsaid chamber and an exhaust manifold in open communication with saidmotor cylinder at the exhaust side thereof and at the opposite side ofvsaid chamber.

' JOHN 0.- HEINZE.

